Hartford Shooting Victim IDd As 22-Year-Old

HARTFORD — Blood still coated the dirt behind a Barbour Street apartment building on Monday morning, about 12 hours after police found Jimmy Q. Roberson with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

The 22-year-old had recently been released from prison, where he earned his GED, said his father James Roberson, an evangelist at Christ Tabernacle Ministries on Main Street.

"He said, 'Dad, I want to change.'"

Jimmy Roberson's death around 9:20 p.m. Sunday was the city's fourth homicide of the year, concluding a bloody week in the North End in which four other young men were shot, two of them fatally.

On March 25, Kwante Feliciano and Kelly Cooper were shot in the area of Clark and Nelson streets, a block away from Roberson's shooting. Feliciano, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Cooper, 30, who had been shot in the head, was pronounced dead Tuesday at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center.

On Thursday, 22-year-old George Harris and 23-year-old Joaquin Cedino were shot in the neighborhood of Bedford and Garden streets, but both Hartford men are expected to survive.

Police said they have received no information indicating that the shootings are related. "There is no known link other than proximity," said Lt. Brian Foley of the major crimes unit.

Sgt. Glendaly Garcia said Monday afternoon that additional patrols have been assigned to the area as investigators continue to search for leads. Police believe Roberson may have been targeted and have asked residents to come forward if they have any information.

The city had experienced relative calm before the spate of violence. Until Feliciano and Cooper's deaths, the last fatal shooting in Hartford was reported on December 23, when a 21-year-old man was shot in the chest on Hillside Avenue.

"This is crazy, just crazy," said the Rev. Henry Brown, who wore a green Sandy Hook Promise pin on his coat Monday. "Everyone's focused on Newtown. How about right here in Hartford?"

Brown's Mothers United Against Violence group held a rally on Saturday to call for stricter gun laws, and two days later, he was linking hands and praying with two distraught young women behind the building at 91 Barbour St. Roberson, who grew up in Hartford, was found dead next to a parked car with a crushed windshield.

One of the women was doubled over, coughing with grief. She met Roberson on Thursday, she said, and they were already talking about spending the summer together.

Brown invited them to a vigil at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at that spot.

"Twenty-two years old," Brown said. "Another senseless death. Why? I can't understand it. Why? ... These families are being terrorized by these people."

James Roberson said he picked up his son from prison several weeks ago. Jimmy pled guilty to felony drug possession in 2011 and received a 2-year sentence, court records show.

Roberson brought Jimmy to Christ Tabernacle Ministries and sat him down for a long talk, he said. That's when Jimmy told him he wanted to change and "give his life over to the Lord."

"I was very proud of him and the things he was accomplishing while he was in jail," Roberson said. "But he was just one of those lost kids who thought, 'Well, because I went to jail, nobody wants to hire me.'"

On Thursday, the elder Roberson took Jimmy to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get an ID card so he could begin looking for a job, he said, and "get things running right .... Go from there."

Raven Hardy, 22, said she got back in touch with Jimmy Roberson — friends knew him as "J-Rock" — about three weeks ago.

"He got a good heart," Hardy said. "Everybody has their faults. You can't judge nobody for what they've been in jail for, or what they did. Everybody goes through things."

James Roberson, wearing a tie and slacks, knows that to be true. He looked skyward and pointed.

"I'm from these streets, you know .... God washed me up. He gave me a destination and a purpose."

Roberson is planning a memorial service for his son at the Main Street church, where Jimmy's friends can gather, he said.

"These kids out here today don't respect nobody else, and they don't know how to respect themselves. They were never taught to respect someone. ... It's time for this to stop," Roberson said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Lt. Brian Foley at 860-757-4463 or foleb001@hartford.gov. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers at 860-722-8477 or http://www.hartfordcrimestoppers.com.